CARLTON isn't necessarily going to go like-for-like when it comes to replacing departed key forward Tayla Harris.
The high-flying Harris had been a focal point of the Blues' forward line for four years, before both the club and player decided to part ways at the end of the season, with Harris finding a new home at Melbourne.
Serena Gibbs looked likely to have first crack at the vacant spot, but has opted to sit out the 2022 NAB AFLW season for her mental health, while Imogen Milford, 22, has been drafted from Casey.
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Carlton signed South Australian Jess Good as a free agent, who is expected to support All-Australian ruck Breann Moody, while 153cm small forward Poppy Schaap was given an opportunity as a replacement player.
"We talked a lot about Poppy leading into the draft. At the time, we needed other players to balance our list. But we knew Poppy was a real good talent. I was staggered no one drafted her, and then it was a matter of her getting an opportunity," coach Daniel Harford told womens.afl.
"She's not a tall forward, but she's a forward, and what she's shown us in a month – coming from a fair way back physically – with her attitude, her capacity to work and her willingness to do the right thing, has been phenomenal. We are ecstatic to have her as part of the team.
"[Key forward] may not be as prominent a position as it has been for us in the past. Imogen will get a look, I imagine 'Goody' will spend some time there if she's playing as a back-up to 'Moods'. We don't necessarily need a key position player doing all the damage, it'll be a bit of a new look for us, which hopefully works, because if it doesn't, we're in trouble.
"If we get it right, it'll work, it's just a matter of having the confidence to do it under pressure."
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Defence will also be a key focus at Carlton, after the Blues had come into 2021 as one of the flag favourites but finished just outside the top six.
"We were all really disappointed with 2021, no one's hiding away from that. Some of it's personnel, some of it's system and you put that together and hopefully you get the new plan that works with the right people," Harford said.
"It's our full-ground defence that's the main area we need to improve. We were a little bit noughts and crosses, either we'd win or they'd win, there wasn't too many neutrals. We've got to find a way to limit the 'they win' part, and still find a way for us to win."
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Darcy Vescio and Elise O'Dea have been named vice-captains (with Kerryn Harrington to skipper), and have been joined by fellow Darebin alumnus Jess Dal Pos this year.
The Falcons were the premier women's football side before the advent of the AFLW. A fiercely standalone club, it has contributed heavily to what we see today at the top level.
"They're very happy to be back together, I can tell you that much," Harford said.
"I've been trying to call Jess Dal Pos for two years and she wouldn’t return my calls and was driving me bananas. We were really keen to get her in as a human. We knew she could play footy, but we needed her leadership, her competitiveness.
"They're a strong brand, they're a strong breed of human, the Darebin girls. That's not to say the others aren’t, but there's something about the Darebin group, certainly that generation, that I really love.
"They have a really strong bond that has come through hard work, toil and not having much and making it work for them. They've brought that to the team and the whole group dynamic, and our younger players are responding to that really well."
